Citrus County, FL Business Licensing & Operations: Adult Entertainment (2026)

Section 10-106 requires any adult entertainment establishment, classified as an adult bookstore, adult theater, or adult dancing establishment, to first obtain a license from the county administrator, limited to a single classification per business. Section 10-174's distance provisions measure straight-line, closest-property-line to closest-property-line, and bar a proposed or enlarged establishment from sitting within 2,500 feet of a preexisting adult entertainment establishment, 1,000 feet of a preexisting religious institution, educational institution, or park, 800 feet of an area permitting residential use, or 500 feet of a commercial establishment that sells alcohol for on-premises consumption.

"Enlargement" includes any floor-size increase over ten percent. A business already too close to a church, school or residential area on the ordinance's effective date had one year to cease operating; one that was merely too close to another adult business or to on-premises alcohol sales instead keeps nonconforming-use status under the county's land development code chapter 3, and a business between 200 and 800 feet from a residential area keeps that status only if it builds and maintains an eight-foot brick or block retaining wall along the residential property line by its next license renewal.

The county planning and development review board may grant variances from the spacing rules under land development code chapter 3, section 3300. The article applies only in unincorporated Citrus County, per Section 10-75.